The Aftermath
by J.C394
Summary: This story takes place after the District uprisings and before the treaty of treason was inforced :)
1. Chapter 1

This is just a prologue just to see whether I should continue or not :) Please review!

* * *

Smoke plumed from the buildings around me, turning the sky black; blocking out the sun. People screamed, blood pouring from open wounds caused by the guns; the guns that are so vividly imprinted into my mind. And all I can do is stand here, motionless.

Everything was a blur, blood covering my eyes making everything appear red. This place looked like hell, fires everywhere, flickers of light from the guns; so many guns. The white uniforms, a wall of them, trying to control the chaos that plagued District 13, the chaos that plagued all of Panem.

I look around me, hoping to find a way out of the mass, nowhere seemed safe. All I see is white uniforms surrounding, shooting at everything that moves. There were some atop the justice building, sat there like seagulls; long range guns in hand. There were holo screens on the guns with target circles moving quickly around it as if they were tracking the District 13 citizens, which they obviously were. A small burst of white light and you were dead.

No sounds is registering in my ears, just a faint ringing. An explosion to my left sent shock-waves through my body as it knocked my to the floor. I look over, one of the propane tanks dotting the District had been set alight, it was obvious that it was a tactical event as bodies of peacekeepers scattered the floor. Just the look of the blown off limbs made me violently sick everywhere. My vision started to go. Then darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

1 Week Later

* * *

The destruction that plagued district 13 just over a week ago was clearly visible. The clean-up was slow, painfully slow. Debris was everywhere. Bits wood from buildings, bullet casings and festering dead bodies. The smell was intolerable. The vomit inducing smell was rife in the air of district 13; people had to cover their faces with pieces of cloth to keep the smell out. The peacekeepers did nothing to help with the clear-up of the deceased, nor did they help with anything other than ordering others around to do the clean-up for them.

I had an old piece of cloth wrapped around my head from the impact on the floor from me blacking out. My memory was a blur, only bits of what happened were easily recollected. It pained me to think about what had happened. So much death surrounded me. And I did nothing. A tear started to drop from my eye at the thought.

I hadn't lost anyone. But, I suppose you can't lose what you never had.

According to the woman who had take care of me since I had woken up - Alma Coin, she was called; just Coin to most - found me in a sewage ditch next to a graphite storage unit. She says that I was in a coma; she found me 3 days ago. She said 'You were lucky I found you, you would have died if it weren't for me.' She had a certain politician sound to he voice; it was calm, but very persuasive and superior. She looked about 35, which was strange as she had perfectly grey hair; there was not a single strand of it that was any different from the rest. Just a dark shade of grey. Her hair fell to her shoulders in an unbroken sheet. She had eyes of the same colour and shade of grey as her hair did. She was a plain woman, ordinary clothes which were never dirty; always impeccable. She had the features that the people had in the baas, which was what we called the slum area of district 13; but she lived like one of the imperials, who were the rich folk of district 13. I was in neither of those categories, I was an intelligen.

The intelligens were the group of people that ran the nuclear warhead facility that the Capitol recently built in case there was another war. The occupants of district 13 had no idea that what had been built as the Capitol kept it a closely guarded secret, they even kept it from the people in the Capitol. The president had appointed us specifically as he said that we were; 'Gifted in the field of science.' He had sent people from the Capitol to aid in the warhead production and the nuclear research that they were doing, as it was far too dangerous to handle in the Capitol.

We intelligens spent most of our days working in the far depths of district 13, day in and day out, staring at holo screens, just in case there was an emergency. We sometimes spent weeks on end working the reactor cores; testing small nukes in the vast fields that had been built underground solely for this purpose and disposing of all the nuclear waste that was produced from all this urania; which was the Capitols' synthetic substitute for Uranium and Plutonium, as we ran out long ago. I had once spent a month down in the radizone, which is what we called the underground facility, because of a small crack in one of the reactors. Alarms went and gone for weeks; radiation was leaking, leaking everywhere. Hundreds of Capitol specialists kept coming to assess the current situation of the reactor. They eventually decided to fill it in with concrete as there was nothing that we could really do about it. 50,000,000 metric tonnes of concrete had to be created and poured in through a tiny tube that came to the surface. The people were getting suspicious about what was going on underneath their feet. They originally thought that it was just a mining site for District 13's 'main produce', which in fact District 13's mines ran out of graphite nearly 3 years ago. To keep people believing that this was the only produce of District 13, they had to transport it all the way from the Capitol to store in the huge graphite storage units that we have here. But suspicions were being raised and people were getting curious. It would be only a short while before the whole of the district would find out about this.

This was left to the publicity specialists to get rid of the conspiracies that were going around. Some had already guessed what was down there. They were never to be seen again, by the rest of the district that is. The president ordered them to be taken down to the very lowest reached of the radizone. The mutation testing rooms. They were dark rooms covered in white tiles from top to bottom. They were white to start with. Blood stains them now, old and new. Everywhere. The stench was horrific, it seeped into the hazmat breathing masks. There was no getting away from it. It would be enough to drive a man crazy. If the act of having to wade through blood in the corridors didn't get you first. Wonderfully, I have the pleasure of being the head of the department and I take charge of every mutation in it. Some mutations are harmless; like the Jabberjays, perfectly harmless, but very very annoying as they repeated everything that you say, exact to the word. But, there are others that disturb you, creatures of nightmares. There was a constant flow of felons from the Capitol down here. When the Capitol couldn't torture and punish its citizens enough they were sent here. Many of them die from the nuclear exposure I put them through, but others change. They become living nightmares. Creatures that will scare any normal human being to death, that will cause them to go insane. But, thankfully for me they have no impact on my mental ability nor do they scare or disturb me. I just feel sorry for them. they cry out in pain as new arms grow out from parts of their body. Writhing in their own blood and excrement. the cries of children without skin, just piles of organs and muscle and blood. Some radiation exposure causes many brains to change or alter which makes them blood thirst beasts; dangerous, vicious and ready to kill. But what hts me the most is that I have created them, I put them through all this pain.


	3. Chapter 3

''Valeria? Is that you?'' Coin said inquisitively down the stairs to the sound of the door opening. ''Answer me!'' There was some sort of urgency in her voice. She is the sort of person that was anxious and paranoid over people she did not know entering her house. Which is kind of understandable with the fact that she was one of the richest people in all of District 13. She had security systems that were on around the clock, as she could afford the electricity. But, she always thought that people would come to steal her stuff. Even though the pulsar canons around her house would vaporise anyone without authorisation. ''Valeria Wellwood, is that you?! Answer me, answer me at once!''

''Yes it me Coin, don't worry. You would have know if it wasn't me because there would be a pile of ash on the porch.'' I said rather cynically.

''There is no harm in being careful'' She set down her mace. ''What do you want for tea?'' She said.

''Have you got any of that butchers' chicken left?'' I said, mouth already starting to water. I had never had real food like that before, just this horrid, freeze-dried 'food' that the Capitol supply the radizone with. But, staying with Coin for only 3 weeks I have already had the largest variety of food that anyone else in the District could only dream of; none of it was in large plastic packets and wasn't a powder.

''I don't think there is, but I can go and get some if you like.''

''It is okay, I will go and get it. You have done so much for me already, it is the least I can do.''

''Thank you Valeria.'' She said walking towards her safe behind a big painting of Panems' President. This picture scared me, he looked intimidating. Which I suppose suited his place; being the president and all.

''I have said this before Coin, you can call me Val. I would rather you call me that.''

''Thank you for the permission to call you 'Val'.'' She faltered at the 'Val' part as if she disgusted herself by saying it. ''I don't care much for 'nicknames', I don't see why you would want to shorten a name that your parents gave you, or in your case, what your creator gave you.'' She's disgusted with me because I have no parents and the Capitol created me in a laboratory just for the purpose of being the perfect candidate to work their nuclear facility.

The Capitol created me so I would be able to understand and 'take in' everything that I see. So, working in the radizone, I can understand everything about nuclear physics with ease and without any effort. But, it is only anything science based that I can understand without any effort. I think that is just what they intended me to become. They didn't want me to do anything else.

''What chicken do you want me to get.'' I said avoiding the subject.

''Just pick something that you would like, anything at all.'' She gave me a purple velvet bag filled with small, silver coins. This isn't the first time she gave me money to go shopping for her. Most of the time I offer to, but other times she makes me because 'I owe her'.

''Why have you given me so much just for chicken?'' I asked inquisitively.

''I was going to get you to get a Turkey for thanksgiving next weekend. Oh, and could you go to the justice building and order me a new freezer unit from District 3. This one has packed up.'' She smacked her hand on top of the broken freezer and the glass smashed all over the floor.

''And I guess someone to come and clear this up as well then.'' She just stared at the glass all over the floor.

''You want me to order someone from District 3 to clean this up?'' I laughed at myself for making that joke. Coin just stared at me, obviously unaffected my stupendously amazing joke. ''Where am I supposed to get someone to do that?''

''You could go into the square and ask people.'' She said quite patronisingly.

''Okay, okay. I am going to leave now. I will be back in about 2 hours.'' I waved goodbye and headed for the door.

''Get the chicken last else it will go funny in this heat!'' She shouted from somewhere behind me.

''I will, see you later.'' I opened the door and a wave of heat slapped my face and it pushed me back. 'Whoa! It is hot' I thought to myself. I stepped out of the door. The sun was blinding, it stopped my sight for a few moment whilst my radiolenses adjusted to the light. ''Aah! That is better.'' I said when they adjusted to the perfect amount. I could see again. But they did nothing about the heat, they could do nothing about the heat. But, i trudged on, through the immense heat. Sweat had already started to appear on my brow. I hadn't even gotten to the front gate and I was already sweating!

I saw a stray cat appear through the front gate. Just the sight of it made me go all soft inside, I tried to get its attention and tried to call it over. It was the most gorgeous cat I have ever seen. It had light brown fur with streaks of a darker brown on it. Its paws and underbelly were all white, perfectly white, not some mud covered white. Its eyes were blue and sparkling in the sun. I was honestly the best cat I have ever seen. I had never seen this cat before though, Stray cats always come past the front gate, but they never come in through the gate. I got its attention and it started to walk towards me. It 'mewed', a heavenly meow. 'I am going to take this cat and keep it' I thought to myself. 'Would Coin let me keep a cat in her house though?'

BOOM! The sound of the pulsar canon frightened me. I looked around to see what it had hit. One of the canons was facing towards me, it started to readjust into its original position. What had it hit? I turned round back towards the front gate and there it was. Where the cat had been was a black scorch mark on the floor and a small pile of ash. I stood and looked at it in shock, mouth open eyes so wide they started to dry up. The canon had shot at the cat.

I heard the door slam open behind me. Coin came running out, utter shock plagued her expression. She came to a halt and just stared at me.

''I thought the canons got you then!'' She said out of breath. I didn't acknowledge her; too fixated on the bit of pavement where the cat was only a few moments ago. Just a black scorch mark in the shape of the cat. The ash blew away in the wind. I couldn't tear my eyes away from that spot. ''Valeria. Valeria!''

I started away as if nothing had happened. I just walked away as if the cat didn't get vaporised.

''Are you okay, Valeria?'' She asked seeming genuinely concerned.

''Yeah, I'm fine.'' I waved her away, continuing to walk towards the front gate. ''I'm totally fine.''

* * *

I decided to go to the justice building first to order the freezer from District 3. the justice building was a tall, ugly concrete building with large vertical Panem flags hung elegantly from the top to the bottom. The justice building is the base for the peacekeepers; like their headquarters of sorts. But, it also where you can order products from other Districts; or even if it came to it, the Capitol. this was very expensive and only the rich could afford to do it. Ordering products was charged by how far away a district was from your current location, and being in District 13; ordering something from District 3 was going to be massively expensive. But, ordering something from the Capitol was so expensive, due to the laws that people in the districts should have no contact with the Capitol, that no on had ever ordered anything from there, unless it was very important and worth the money to get it transported here.

I arrived at the justice building. It was situated at the front of the District Plaza. The Plaza was full with people and market stalls. It had a very busy atmosphere. I always looked forward to the Thanksgiving markets, the smell of food, fresh food. The smell of bread, pork, sauted vegetables. It was a wondrous time to be walking through the District. It was even better if you had money. I walked through the busy stall aisle, trying not to bump into anyone, which was quite hard actually. There was an increase in the amount of peacekeepers this year, which didn't surprise me the slightest due the uprising that happened just a few weeks ago. There was still bits of destroyed buildings all over the floor, but there were no bodies on the floor, which I suppose shows the clean-up is getting somewhere. But, the bodies will be sent to my lab preservation tanks. 'Yaay' I thought to myself sarcastically 'More bodies.' I wouldn't have minded much if you couldn't see inside them, but you could. They were big glass cylindrical tanks with floating dad people in them. It was an amazing sight...

I finally got to the justice building. The peacekeeper guard stopped me as I got to the door. The gun that he held drew my attention. It was like nothing that I had seen before. The holo screen circled the the entirety of the end, which was huge. He saw me looking quizzically at it.

''EMP launcher.'' He said with a monotone voice. ''It stands for Electro Magnetic Pulse launcher.''

''I know what it stands for, I do work with EMP's for a living.'' This surprise him for a moment, then he realised I worked in the radizone. The peacekeepers had to know about this for evacuation reasons incase anything went wrong.

''Oh.'' He said. ''What do you want?'' Resuming his place.

''I have come to order a freezer from District 3.''

''I am sorry, Miss. All inter-District orders have been seized for the foreseeable future. If you would like to order something it will have to be from the Capitol and the Capitol only."

''What?! Why?!'' This shocked me.

''Due to the current situation of the Districts, the Capitol has seized all communications to all the other Districts.''

''Where the hell am I going to get a freezer then?''

''Calm down please, or I will be forced to restrain you.''

''Answer my question!''

''Miss, don't make me use this.'' He lifted the gun slightly.

''Please just answer my question!'' I said lowering my tone and making it sound less threatening.

''Okay, well as I said all communications are down between Districts. So, I couldn't even if I wanted to. You will have to order it from the Capitol.''

''That will cost a fortune!''

''Well it looks like you can afford it.'' He said signalling to the velvet bag of coins I was carrying. ''What did you do steal that? Someone of your class can't afford that. I know that you are an intelligen, they don't pay you that much.''

''Not that it is any business of yours, but I am currently living with Alma Coin. She asked me to order a freezer for her because hers has broken. So, if you don't mind I have a freezer to order.'' I pushed past him and entered the main hall of the justice building. The reception was at the far end. Airbots flew around the room keeping it at a 'manageable' temperature. It was freezing in here. The Airbots are programmed to fly over anyone who enters the main hall and me being the only one in here apart from the receptionist, they all flew over me. I started shivering so much. I decided to run to the reception before I froze to death. I ran, not noticing the Dyson Rangers cleaning the floors. Stood on one. It went mental, I must have crushed one of its circuits. My foot stuck in the centre of it, I fell on the floor. Sparks flying, it dragged me across the floor. Every direction it took me, It kept slamming me against the wall. The peacekeeper guard obviously heard the commotion and came to look what was going on because there was a huge bass boom. The Dyson Ranger blew to the other side of the room. I collapsed, out of breath. A few peacekeepers came over to help including the guard at the door.

And that's when the sirens started going off.


End file.
